Sven-Goran Eriksson has insisted he still has the support of the England players and dismissed allegations that David Beckham's role as captain has led to him having a say on team selections and tactics.

The England manager has been riled by stories of rifts within the England camp and of Beckham's team-mates believing the Real Madrid player exerts too much influence over the Swede.

"He [Beckham] is handled in the same way as all the other players," said the Swede. "The only difference is that I talk more to him than others because he's the captain. But no player, captain or otherwise, has influence on which team I pick or which tactics I use. That is between me and my coaching staff."

Eriksson was equally forthright when it came to the thorny subject of whether he had the unequivocal backing of his players. "I have lost the players? There is no chance," he said. "Of course, if you lose to Northern Ireland and play as badly as we did, then everything is wrong - the players and the tactics. But to say that I have lost the power in the dressing room, and that the feeling between me and the players is lost, there is no chance."

Eriksson added that he had not yet abandoned playing with a single striker but that he preferred to play 4-4-2 and "so do the players".